| |
Management
Practical sustainability is a
team function
Sustainability is a priority issue
in our company, but its definition is also exposed to a constant
tide of change in public opinion. We have to respond to the
public debate and take up the standard interpretation, yet at
the same time develop and define our own specific procedures.
For Bayer, sustainable development (Glossary») means finding a balance between
economic, ecological and social requirements. We have identified
five elements as a basis for this: quality, partnership, commitment,
a systematic approach and global scope.
Our endeavors in all these areas are geared to sustainability
excellence, in other words, a continuous process of improvement
in our sustainability profile. Sustainability excellence is
achieved by integrating company-specific demands and requirements
in order to create value. That means that the demands made at
various levels must be linked together. Building on our values
and principles, we aim to foster sustainability excellence by
concentrating on quality, partnership, commitment, a systematic
approach and global scope. Organizational
integration of sustainability
As a strategic task with long-term implications, sustainability
management is a governance task. As such, it can only be carried
out in conjunction with the subgroups. Accordingly, a Corporate
Sustainability Board forms the heart of the sustainability
management structure for the Bayer Group. The Corporate Sustainability
Board is chaired by the member of the Group Management Board
who is responsible for Innovation, Technology & Environment.
It is responsible for making decisions on objectives, strategy
and major initiatives and for communicating the issue of sustainable
development (SD), and our activities and initiatives in the
area of corporate social responsibility (Glossary») (CSR), internally
and externally. The work of the Corporate Sustainability Board
is supported by the SD Planning Group, whose task is to make
sure the strategies and initiatives are put into practice.
The SD Planning Group is an interdisciplinary team comprising
the heads of relevant functions at the subgroups and staff
from various Corporate Center departments.
The main elements of practical sustainable development at
Bayer are discussed at an annual SD Conference which is also
attended by the Group’s Responsible Care (Glossary») officers. Responsible
Care is a global chemical industry initiative dedicated to
achieving continuous improvement in environmental protection,
health and safety. It is voluntary and, in some areas, its
goals exceed statutory requirements. Bayer has been committed
to this voluntary initiative since it was introduced.
Elements for implementing sustainability
excellence
Sustainable development is supported by various programs
and initiatives, each of which has to be driven individually,
but all of which interact. Management of these interfaces
is important because the multi-facetted nature of sustainable
development requires transparent internal and external integration.
This is achieved through the organizational structure shown
below. The most important activities and programs embedded
in our sustainable development strategies are as follows:
Responsible Care, the worldwide
initiative of the chemical industry, plays an important role
by involving the employees in the process.
The Bayer Eco-Check is an
evaluation method developed by Bayer to examine products with
a view to the key aspects of sustainability. This tool is
thus an extended form of product stewardship.
Corporate social responsibility brings all the threads
of our social commitment together: As a globally operative
company, we are part of society in all countries where we
operate – as an employer, neighbor and business partner.
We take our responsibilities seriously, incorporate them into
our business decisions, take part in many community projects
and support a wide range of initiatives.
Support of the capacity-building
activities of the International Council of Chemical
Associations (ICCA): Capacity building means passing on information
and know-how on sustainable production and the safe handling
of chemicals, especially to newly industrializing and developing
countries.
At Group level, HSE (health,
safety, environmental protection) (Glossary») management directs the main
elements of implementation, e.g. the management systems and
audits (Glossary»)
and the provision of information on substances and sites.
Ensuring transparency within the
company and for outsiders requires clear reporting
of the main information required by our stakeholders (Glossary»). Systematic
recording and tracking of such data are the most important
steps in this assignment. We set ourselves concrete objectives
which we publish and against which we allow ourselves to be
measured.
|
|
|
